Linking Impact Assessment Instruments to Sustainability Expertise

Existing research points out that the full potential of Impact Assessment (IA) for delivering sustainable development is not being realised. Many tools to support IA are not yet being fully employed by policy makers. This is symptomatic of a large and deep gap between the two broad communities of IA researchers and IA practitioners. Practitioners tend to look for tools that are simple and transparent while the researchers are more interested in the sophistication and innovative aspects of assessment tools. The main purpose of LIAISE is to identify and exploit opportunities to bridge between these two communities in a way that leads to an enhanced use of IA tools in policy making. Its centrepiece will be a shared toolbox – simultaneously accessible and useful for policy makers as well as for the research community. The LIAISE consortium will: • Unite the multi-disciplinary competences of a core of large European institutes, that in turn consolidate the expertise from large FP6 projects. • Combine researchers that analyse current policy needs and link them in innovative ways to those who maintain and develop IA tools; • Develop a roadmap towards a virtual centre of excellence on IA, that can operate as the durable hub of existing academic and practitioner networks relevant to the themes of the NoE; • Maintain the flexibility to support ‘real life’ IA processes, informed by a structured dialogue with the IA user community; • Develop a business plan to ensure durable operation, scientific credibility and efficient usability of the shared toolbox, also in the post-project period. Resulting in: • A shared toolbox: a durable and flexible infrastructure to support IA with improved tools; • A continuously updated shared research agenda; • Capacity building and training components to spread the results of research activities to target groups in communities of IA users and IA researchers; • A virtual centre of excellence on IA